Chapter 41
When morning came, Antonio heard a knock on his door and he frowned. He had decided to stay back a bit before he went to work because he wanted a few more hours of rest.
When he opened the door, he found Martha standing outside his room. Knowing that the helper wouldn’t disturb him unless it was something very important, he asked, “What is it?”
“It’s ma’am. I’ve been knocking on her door to call her down for breakfast, but she isn’t responding,” Martha told her boss.
This didn’t set off any radars in Antonio’s head as Zabelle was someone who liked to sleep in, at least that was the conclusion he drew from her living in his mansion.
However, just as he was about to dismiss the helper, he remembered that she had been a bit warm yesterday, and that finally set off warning radars in his head. “I’ll check up on her,” he said as he stepped out of the room.
Without wasting time, he headed to Zabelle’s room. Unless she had gotten up and locked the door, getting in wasn’t going to be a problem, and it wasn’t as the door opened when he twisted the knob.
He headed straight for her bed, and he placed his hand on her forehead. It was burning, just as he had suspected.
“Zabelle,” he called out to her, and it took a few seconds for her to slowly open her eyes.
“I feel cold,” she whispered to him as she dragged the duvet closer to her body. Antonio immediately got up and grabbed a thermometer from the first aid kit, after which he took her temperature so he would know if he needed to call a doctor. He didn’t.
“Hold on, I’ll be back,” he told her, and she nodded slightly in response. He shouldn’t have ignored the signs yesterday, he sighed to himself. If he didn’t, maybe there was a chance it wouldn’t have gotten to this stage.
“Martha,” he called, and the head helper arrived in seconds. “Prepare some soup for her, she has a fever,” he told the helper
“Oh my goodness, I’ll go prepare a warm compress for her as well,” Martha told him, and she rushed to do so.
“I do it,” Antonio told her when she came back with it, and Martha left to go handle the soup.
Without wasting time, he placed the warm towel on Zabelle’s head, and she hissed..
“I don’t want it,” he heard her say y in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Stop being foolish, it will help with the fever,” he told Zabelle who opened her eyes.
“I’m sick, can’t you at least be nice to me?” She asked as she closed her eyes once more so she could go back to sleep.
“I’m here, helping you, that’s me being nice,” Antonio retorted. He had never been this nice to anyone and instead of counting herself lucky, she was still asking him to be nice to her Leaving her to deal with the fever seened like a wonderful option, but he found himself unable to do so, and it was annoying
“Be nice with your words too,” Zabelle admonished him, and he rolled his eyes.
“Actions speak louder than words. Besides, saying nice things to you won’t help with your fever.”
“Hmm, Zabelle muttered, and he didn’t know if she was agree with what he said or if she was groaning
“Did those men do anything to you?” He changed the subject. Knowing how terrible he was, he knew there were ways tp. harm someone without physically touching them.
“No, they didn’t: Zabelle replied, and Antonio was finally ratistas all his doubts had been cleared
14:44 Fri, Dec 27
Chapter 41
“Do you know why they took me? Was it for ransom?” She slurred.
“We’ll talk about that later, you need to focus on getting better,” Antonio stated. “Don’t forget, if you don’t get better before then, I’ll carry you all the way to the altar and still get married to you.”
The corner of Zabelle’s lips pulled up into a slight smile over his words. She didn’t however have the energy to respond.
There was a knock on the door and Martha walked in holding a tray. “Come on, it’s time to take something so you can use your medication,” he told her as he collected the tray from Martha and dismissed her.
“I’m not hungry,” Zabelle cried out as she didn’t want to sit up. All she wanted to do was sleep and he was disturbing her. Antonio however paid no heed to Zabelle who was acting like a child as he made her sit up.
“If you don’t take care of your body, how will you get better?” He asked as he brought the spoon to her mouth.
She took one look at it, and she opened her mouth as Antonio gave her a warning look. It was rather strange that the man who wanted to make her life a living hell was the same one who was nursing her.
She remembered back when she was dating Jeremy, how he always avoided her whenever she was sick for the reason that he didn’t want to get sick. She was madly in love with him, and so she didn’t have a problem with that?
But here Antonio was. Wasn’t he supposed to be at the office? She wondered.
Why was it starting to feel like Antonio wasn’t as terrible as she thought he was? Sure, he was still cruel, and he was still out for her blood, but he hadn’t done anything to her.
She remembered how her father had made her do chores while she was sick back when she was a teenager all because he didn’t care, or how they didn’t bother to look for her when she ran away from home.
Yes, Antonio was forcing her to marry him, but it was in a way beneficial to her. He had money and wasn’t stingy when it came to spending on her. Even though she didn’t consider herself to be materialistic, it would be a lie if she said she wasn’t enjoying Antonio’s money.
He defended her in public and most importantly, she finally knew what it was like to have a loving family.
He had done more for her than her family or even Jeremy had ever done for her, and it was getting harder to ignore..
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14:44 Fri, Dec 27
Chapter 42